Exploring the traditional wall architecture

When we talk of historical walls, the idea of ancient Great Wall of China at once comes to our mind. It is the most famous ancient wall of world. There are other several walls found at other places as  well, but those are not so famous. There are several such historical cities, towns and places which have been called as walled cities.  In our Jammu and Kashmir the remains of such walls  are still found, at several cities and towns, including that of Jammu, Srinagar, ands Poonch.

But I am not here to discuss  those high profile walls, these  have already been discussed and plenty of information is already available  on such great  historical  walls.  My  concern  here is with those little known  local  traditional walls  of my land  which have been there for centuries.

Walls are basically raised for security and covering of one’s places like, cities, towns, forts, houses, gardens and orchards. It is a  sort of demarcation and protection to one’s propriety.  In fact, with  the advancement of  the building material and its technology, the traditional wall architecture, like other architectures, has underwent great change. Let us here try to describe  few wall architectural styles. 

Diaper pebble walls

The remains of earliest walls have been found at Harwan and Semthan archaeological sites. These are two types of walls; one has been called as diaper pebble style and other simply as rubble style. The diaper style wall has been exclusively formed of small peoples and in between at requisite places has been supported by rubble stones, while in rubble style the wall is mostly formed of rubble stone and at some spaces it has been supported by small pebbles.

Such walls have been identified and deciphered, and believed to have been in vogue here during Scythian and Kushan era (100 BC - 400 AD); raising of such walls required a special craftsmanship, where in the small pebbles of the walls required to be formed  in a smooth way. I could also see at Darakote-Hutmur terraces demarcated by some small wall which at few spaces has been disturbed. The small pebbles are visible. It looks that this demarcation line had been formed of small pebbles.

Stone Wall

Stone wall locally known as Kenidus was raised around the courtyard of the house. Stones were first assembled and then raised one after the other.

The gaps were filled by small stones. The height of such walls was kept low to the extent that wild animals should not cross over. The walls from 2.6ft to 3 ft are left coverless in order to prevent any damage by snow or heavy rains. The heavy pressure of water, mostly during flood and heavy snowfall can damage it badly and that is why the design is as it is.

Although raising such walls may require a little technical knowhow, the architectural significance with regard to the climate and the environs of this place can never be undermined. Local people usually do the bulk of work themselves and may seek a little help from those who know the craft.
Earthen Walls

These are the walls created of local earths. They require the cover and can be raised to a desired height. These walls are more popular than the stone walls and are seen everywhere in the plains of the valley. The construction of such walls is a bit difficult and cannot be raised without its proper device called Inder. Inder is a mould prepared of wooden logs and frames. For construction of earthen walls, the area is properly market and a tunnel of around 1-2 feet is dug out to fix a boulder plinth using mud for plaster. When the plinth is dry, the wooden Inder is placed over it which makes a space for more mud to be thrown into it. Few persons work inside the Inder as rollers while few persons put the loose mud into it.

The wall is raised in small parts, measuring three to four feet in length. When one part is completed, the Inder is removed and placed on the next portion. So the construction continues till the desired wall is raised whether around the courtyard or circling the vegetable orchard. It can be raised higher than stone wall and goes up to the length of eight feet or more. Such walls are covered with straw and sometimes leaves are used for this purpose.
This type of cover is locally known as “Nelvoth” wall coverage. These earthen walls have been very poplar here which is testified by the fact that many evidences of these walls are still found in many villages of this land.

Mud Walls

Mud walls are not as common as the stone and earthen walls. However, the tradition of building such walls is also in vogue.
These walls are formed of mud plasters. Gara is first prepared (mud making places) with mixture of water, grass and sieved earth. A mixture is prepared for making small roundish balls.  These balls of mud are then fixed over one another in a proper sequence forming a mud wall of desired length and height. Such walls have been famous in the villages with less availability of stones.
Bush Walls

Basically barricades of sorts, Bush walls were mostly erected by the formers for safeguarding their fields. Such walls are mostly seen in forest belts (villages nearest to forest lands). The inhabitants of these villages compile the bushes and tree branches from their nearest forests and place these bushes around their fields in railings. People in such areas would, sometimes, erect such walls around their houses to cheek the movement of any wild animals. It is locally known as Zou or Pelyar.

Unbaked Brick Walls

The walls discussed above are the walls of common people who live a poor life while there are few well to do families in the villages who preferred brick walls and covered their houses with walls formed of bricks and mud plaster. Erecting of brick walls required expert building techniques and services of a mason, locally termed as Daesil.
It is not a rough work but requires a fine finish. These are also covered with (Nelvoth) a special traditional roof covering material or thatch.

Since such types of constructions have become extremely rare even in the far off villages of the valley, there is a need to identify those architectural monuments and preserve few of them for our forth coming generations.

The writer is a senior archaeologist and Author